Page 6 of Misfit Monsters
“I didn’t do any of it on purpose,” I blurt out. “I never wanted to hurt anyone, I promise.”
The pale man’s eyebrows arch. “An immediate admission of guilt. Convenient.”
The blond woman beams at me. “Let’s start with the basics. What’s your name? What kind of being are you?”
A genuine warmth seeps through her words as if they’ve been spread with melted butter.
I like her. I don’t think she wants to shove me back in the cage.
My answering smile comes easier. “My name’s Periwinkle—but usually I tell people Peri, because it sounds less strange to humans. I don’t know if what I am has a name.”
The muscular man drums his fingers on the table. “What do youdo? Other than blind mortals.”
His hint of a snarl has me wincing. “I absorb emotions. I kind of… eat them. But eating them doesn’t hurt people. They don’t even notice.”
The wiry woman gives me a skeptical look. “And yet you’ve managed to harm quite a few people just in one year.”
My cheeks heat. “Those… those were accidents. I haven’t had a lot of practice at this.”
At keeping control over my reactions rather than having someone else drive them.
I shove away those chilling memories. “If I get full of toomuch emotion all at once, it bursts out of me. I don’t know how to stop it from happening. But I think I’m getting closer to finding the right balance—so I’m not hungry but I don’t get overwhelmed.”
Her gaze rakes up and down me. “And that’s all you want? Just to eat some emotions?”
“And make people happy. Spread the good emotions around.”
Bring joy into mortal lives until I can count more of those than the lives I’ve wounded.
I don’t think these beings will be very happy if I mention my more distant crimes, so I keep those to myself.
The muscular man lets out a snort. The blonde shoots a quick glare at him before returning her attention to me. “If we could teach you how to control your power better before you go back around humans, would you like that?”
They kidnapped me to offer me lessons?
I hesitate. “Teach me how?”
The blue-haired woman takes over. “We run a school for shadowkind who are having trouble integrating into the mortal realm. We’d rather humans stay unaware of our existence—and that you don’t give those who are aware any additional excuse to call us ‘monsters.’ Sometimes beings who could use our guidance are unaware of our… services.”
“Which is totally not their fault!” the blonde pipes up.
The wiry woman narrows her eyes at her companion, but with a waft of ginger-snap affection that I absorb in one gulp. She isn’t all dourness.
The blue-haired woman continues. “Either you commit to working through our program here at the Quinn Moody Academy for the Shadowkind until we judge that it’s safe for you to mingle with humans again, or we banish you to the shadow realm.”
Images swim up of the vast, blank darkness where I emerged into being and lurked between my visits to the mortal world. So much dreariness, so little to do other than marinate in your thoughts, listen to other beings drone about theirs, and make pointless power plays to own a tiny corner of the murk. Or avoid the ones making power plays, which is more my vibe.
Sunshine or gloom—why would anyone take the second option? We “monsters” might all come from the shadow realm, but the mortal plane is so much more delicious.
Before I can speak, the pale man makes a disgruntled sound. “Are we sure we should be giving her a choice, Shanty? It sounds as if she’s caused a lot of harm already with her unpredictable powers.”
A lump fills my throat. One death, seven major injuries, and twenty-three minor wounds just in the most recent incident.
I told you I’m a good counter.
The muscular guy hums in a rumble. “We’ve never taught a being like her. I’ve never seen her specific power before. She might disrupt the students too.”
I fumble for my words. “I won’t. I’ll do whatever you ask me to do. I want to be better! I want to make everything better. Please. I’ll starve if I can’t leave the shadows—emotions are too hazy there. I can only feed properly in the mortal world.”
